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Close to 100 people gathered in the cold wind of Volunteer Landing on Sunday for an annual ceremony remembering the lives of family members and loved ones lost to violent crimes and marking the start of National Crime Victims’ Rights week.

Nearly 100 people gathered in the cold wind of Volunteer Landing on Sunday for an annual ceremony remembering the lives of family members and loved ones lost to violent crimes and marking the start of National Crime Victims’ Rights week.

The ceremony was organized by Hope for Victims, a group founded following the murder of Johnia Hope Berry at her apartment in Knoxville on Dec. 6, 2004, and is one of several events marking the week across East Tennessee.

Joan Berry, Johnia Berry’s mother and the founder of Hope for Victims, said that the annual ceremony, now in its 14th year, is always difficult for the families of victims, but that it serves as an important reminder of who the victims were and how collective action can help influence the way that future crimes are prosecuted.

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Johnia Berry, 21, on her birthday in August 2004. The East Tennessee State student was stabbed to death early Monday, Dec. 6, at the Brendon Park Apartment complex in West Knox County.
Submitted from Berry family

Joan and Mike Berry, parents of the late Johnia Berry, publicly thanked Food City Wednesday outside the Food City near North Peters Rd. for their efforts in helping find the Johnia's killer. Food City is helping in the case to solve the murder of Johnia Berry by decorating 50 of their distribution trucks with a banner that includes a composite of the suspect, a photo of Johnia Berry, and reward money that increased by $10,000 to $70,000 for the arrest and conviction of Berry's murderer.
Saul Young/News Sentinel

Monday, September 24, 2007
Joan and Mike Berry talk to the media, September 24, 2007, after Taylor Lee Olson had been indicted on first-degree murder in the nearly 3-year-old stabbing death of Johnia Berry.
News Sentinel

Joan Berry, the mother of murder victim Johnia Berry, hangs an ornament in her memory during a ceremony to dedicate the Remembrance Tree Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 at the City County Building. The East Tennessee Victim's Rights Task Force is sponsoring the Christmas tree for friends and family who lost loved ones to violence. Johnia Berry was murdered in her West Knoxville apartment in 2004.
WADE PAYNE/Special to the News Sentinel

Joan Berry, mother of murder victim Johnia Berry, came to court to show her support for the families of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom. Johnia Berry died in December 2004 after being stabbed in her West Knox County apartment.
NEWS SENTINEL

Joan Berry, left, mother of murder victim Johnia Berry, talks with Zenobia Dobson outside of the courtroom following a hearing for two men charged in the death of her son Zaevion Dobson Friday Sept. 16, 2016. Berry founded the Hope for Victims support group, and attended the hearing along with her husband Mike Berry to show their support.
News Sentinel

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“It’s heart-wrenching,” Berry said. “It’s bittersweet, you might say, but we don’t want our victims to be forgotten. This is one way to remember them and to bring awareness to the community that these things happen and that we can work together to make a difference in our justice system.”

During the ceremony, two proclamations, one from the City of Knoxville and one from Knox County, were read honoring the victims and their families and commemorating the start of the national week of awareness.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett spoke, after reading the county’s proclamation, about the weight that the families carried and the eventual peace he hoped they would find.

Joan Berry and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett talk before a ceremony honoring the lives of those lost to violent crimes on April 8, 2018.(Photo: Andrew Capps)

“My prayer for you all is something would hear my dad talk about as a little boy, and I can hear him saying this right now,” Burchett said. “My prayer for you is that you would have the peace that passes all understanding, and I hope you all are one day reunited with your loved ones in heaven.”

Other speakers advocated for truth in sentencing, and initiative that Hope for Victims has been working to achieve in the state legislature that would simplify the way that sentences for violent crimes are served.

“I feel like our justice system has let us down where our victims are concerned,” Berry said. “You got to the courtroom, you come out of the trial and you might think they got 50 years, 80 years, whatever, but in some cases, they don’t pull all that time.”

The crowd prays during a ceremony held in memory of violent crime victims marking the start of National Crime Victims' Rights week on Sunday, April 8.(Photo: Andrew Capps)

Dozens of victims were honored during the ceremony, and a line of friends and family members was formed at the ceremony’s close so that each group could call out the name of their lost loved ones and receive a white rose in their memory.

Knox County Mayo Tim Burchett examines a row of pictures of violent crime victims during a ceremony held on Sunday, April 8.(Photo: Andrew Capps)

For Berry, the opportunity to connect with other families who have lost loved ones to violent crimes and to help them find the help they want is worth the struggle of reliving the loss of her daughter each year.

“It means so much to victim and their families to know that they’re not forgotten. I can tell you from experience that it means so much to me to know that you guys remember Johnia,” Berry said to the ceremony crowd. “A lot of people don’t know how to react when they run into someone who has lost a loved one. They don’t know what to say, or they’re afraid they’re going to upset you, but I can tell you that I love it when people remember my daughter, Johnia, so it means a lot to me.”